Infection
by CMDR-Lane
Summary: COMPLETE! The away team is infected with a mind altering virus, and it is up to a select few crewmembers to contain it.
1. Prologue

-Infection-

Prelude

Ensign Harry Kim sprinted down the hallway, being pursuit by four extremely fast security guards, one of which was Tuvok. They were all gaining on him, and fast. Nearly breathless, he mustered the rest of his strength to yell out to the computer.

"Computer, initiate sequence program Kim alpha!"

-_Acknowledged. Secure sequence phase one, initiating. _Harry turned a corner, and ripped his comm badge off his chest the moment he started to dematerialize. Tuvok and his security detail rounded the corner only to find an empty corridor and a badge laying on the carpet.

--

_"Tuvok to Janeway." _Kathryn Janeway crossed her arms, and narrowed her eyes as she stared at the master situation monitor on the back wall of the bridge. She was monitoring the security detachments progress.

"Janeway here." She replied to the badge, and pressed a button on the panel.

_"It seems he rigged the site to site transporter. He beamed out, and left his comm badge behind."_

"Damn. Regroup in Engineering. I will meet you down there. Janeway out."

--

Harry materialized in the starboard nacelle control room, and immediately started searching for a tricorder. He found one laying on a control panel, opened it, and keyed in his command codes. The tricorder immediately routed the computers voice to his location, in the absence of his comm badge.

-_Phase one complete, initiating phase two, standby. _The computer said. Harry leaned up against the wall, and hoped his plan would work.

--

Janeway stormed into Engineering, her hand resting on her phaser in its holster. "Report." She commanded to Tuvok and B'Elanna, who were both standing over a panel.

"He managed to enter in a program into the main computer, and I can't isolate it. He has so many security lockouts on it, we cant even see what the program is designed to do." B'Elanna said, without looking up.

"Well we saw what part of his program did, it let him escape. How many other commands does the program have stored in it?" Janeway asked.

"No way to be sure, my guess would be several… its quite a large file." B'Elanna replied.

"Tuvok, we need to find him… now." Janeway said.

"It's not going to be easy, without his comm badge he is proving hard to track." Tuvok replied. "I am setting up the internal sensors to scan for anomalous heat readings… the scans are coming in now." Suddenly, without warning, sparks started flying from behind the warp core.

--

-_Phase two complete. Internal sensors have been disabled. Standing by for command to initiate phase three._ The computer replied in the control room of the nacelle. Harry breathed a sigh of relief… for he had managed to take the sensors out before he was detected. He grabbed a tool kit and quickly went to work, for he knew he didn't have much time left.

--

_"Damn!" _Torres yelled in fury over the destroyed sensory array. "How the hell did he do that?"

"Because he's the best damn ops officer in Starfleet," Janeway said dryly, staring blankly at her tricorder in her hand. "and its our job to retire him." She finished, tapping her hands on the console next to her. "Find him, now."


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

"This is exemplary work, Ensign."

"Thank you, Captain… I designed it to allow a much quicker lockout of the main computer, in case we are ever boarded." Kim finished, as he watched Captain Janeway skim over the padd he provided her. For the past several weeks, he had been designing a new lockout algorithm for the Captain, so she would be able to secure all ships systems with a simple command to the computer. She was obviously pleased with his work.

"So all I have to do, is give this command to the computer, and everything is locked down?"

"Yes Ma'am… and only your authorization will unlock everything." Janeway smiled at him.

"This is great, Harry. Lets go test it." She said. Harry grinned, and followed her to the bridge. Once he got to his console, he looked up at her and nodded. Janeway cleared her voice.

"Computer, initiate level ten security lockout." Janeway said, as she looked at him.

-_Voiceprint confirmed. Lockout initiated. All systems have secured. _Suddenly the ship came to an abrupt halt from warp, and red alert was activated. Harry smiled at the bright light in Janeways eyes, as she looked up at him.

"Tom, try to take us back into warp." Harry watched her say.

"Sorry Captain, the helm isn't responding. My command codes aren't working, either."

"Tuvok, try to override." Janeway turned to her tactical officer.

"My apologies, Captain. None of my override techniques seem to be working. I congratulate you, Mister Kim. You seem to have created a security program that not even I can break."

"Don't say that Tuvok, his head may get so big he wont fit in the turbolift." Tom Paris said from his seated position at the helm.

"I am certain however, given enough time I would be able to override the lockout." Tuvok defended himself.

"I doubt it, Commander. The program is designed to give Captain Janeway ultimate control… her voice is keyed with the encryption algorithm… her voice and command codes are the only thing that will unlock it." Harry said

"Astounding. This is amazing work, Ensign. It has been a wonderful demonstration. So how do I lift the lockout again?" Janeway asked him.

"You tell the computer to lift the lockout, following with your active command codes." He said, still beaming with pride. He watched her turn back facing the front of the room.

"Computer, lift security lockout. Authorization Janeway epsilon four two nine."

-_Voiceprint confirmed. All ship functions have been re-instated._ The computer responded.

"I have helm control again." Tom said from his post.

"Everything seems to be in order." Chakotay noted from his seated position, as he looked at the panel between the command chairs. "Good work, Harry." He added.

"I want a full report on how it works on my desk in the morning, Harry. And again, great work. Tom, resume course. Warp six." Harry let his mind wander for a moment, still thinking about his accomplishment. A moment later, his panel beeping in front of him snapped him back to the present. He looked down at it, then looked up at Janeway.

"Captain, long range sensors are detecting a large object… Captain, it is roughly the size of a Federation starbase!" Harry said, surprised, as he looked at the readout.

"Confirmed," Tuvok said from his position. "the object is approximately five point nine light years away, fourteen degrease port." Kathryn leaned over in her chair toward Chakotay.

"Think it's worth a look?" She asked her first officer.

"We aren't in desperate need of anything right now, but I always like a good adventure. I don't mind a detour. Besides, its only a few days out of the way."

"Then its settled. Tom, lay in a course. Warp eight."

"You got it… warp eight." Harry herd Tom say, as he glanced over at the chronometer in the LCARS display. Fourteen more minutes, and his duty shift was over.

--

Twenty one and a half minutes later, Harry stepped out of a turbolift, and blindly walked down the corridor, his head buried in a padd.

"Look out, it's Doctor Chaotica!" A voice from behind Harry yelled. Harry ducked, and whirled around to find his best friend Tom Paris dressed in his Captain Proton jump suit.

"Didn't take you long to change… Proton." Harry smirked at his friend, and glanced back down at his padd.

"What do you say, Harry. Lets go defend earth against all evil, for old times sakes."

"You sure that program is even still in the database? I head it was deleted to make room for a security drill." Harry lied, joking his friend.

"If my Proton program was deleted… lets just say that would be bad. Come on Harry, your report probably flawless anyway… lets go to the holodeck. I have a few hours of time reserved, it'll be fun!"

"Fine, you win. But only for a little while." Harry finally gave in. He deactivated the padd, and got in the nearest turbolift with Captain Proton. "Holodeck one." He looked at his friend, but his mind never really left the computations and work of his report.


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

"Why didn't you duck when I told you to?" Tom asked Harry, as they rounded a corner and got into the lift. "Bridge."

"Because, Tom, I didn't feel it was necessary. I mean the robot wasn't even near me yet." Harry responded. The two bridge officers were on their way to deck one, the next morning.

"I wasn't referring to the robot… I was referring to Lonzak, Chaoticas assistant!" The turbolift halted, and the doors slid apart revealing the bridge. They stopped talking, and walked to their respective stations.

"Here is the report you asked for, Captian." Harry said as he handed her a padd.

"Thanks, Ensign." She replied and took it.

A few hours later of uneventful cruising, Tuvoks panel started to beep.

"Captain, we are within visual range of the object."

"Onscreen." Janeway replied. A moment later, a large space station blinked up on the screen. "Scan the station." Janeway requested.

"Nothing that we have encountered before, Captain," Harry replied to her "It has markings on the outside, hold on. The markings aren't in our database, and the universal translator hasn't encountered anything that can be used as a reference. The station also seems to be without power, scanners aren't detecting any active power source over there."

"Captain, we are nearing the station." Tom said.

"Bring us out of warp, Mister Paris. Tuvok, hail them."

"No response, Captain." He replied.

"Life signs?"

"Inconclusive. Our sensors are having a hard time determining that. However, I have located the command deck. Transporter targeting scanners seem to be unaffected."

"Have B'Elanna beam over a sample of their air… I want to know if it's breathable. Chakotay, prepare an away team."

A few minutes later, the comm chimed.

_"Torres to Bridge." _

"Bridge here." Chakotay replied, for the Captain was in her ready room.

_"Commander, that air sample is breathable… its just a little stale." _

"Thanks, B'Elanna. Meet the away team in transporter room two. Bridge out." Chakotay looked up at Harry. "Ensign, grab a tricorder and phaser, and go get the Doctor. I will meet you two in the transporter room in a minute."

A few minutes later, Harry and the Doctor walked into the transporter room… and nodded to B'Elanna and Chakotay.

"Alright, we are going to beam over and assess the situation. If possible, we are going to try to access any computer logs. Everybody stay close. Any questions?" Chakotay asked. After getting no response from anyone, they all walked up on the transporter pad. "Energize."

--

A few moments later, Harry Kim felt the transporter release its hold on him. He immediately thought something was wrong from the cold his body was experiencing… it felt like he was starting to go numb. For a moment, he thought there had been a transporter accident, for he couldn't see a thing. Then he realized he was just cold, and there wasn't any light. Harry reached for his tricorder, and flipped it open. He suddenly realized he was all alone, the rest of the away team wasn't anywhere within scanning range. The dim scanning lights, and screen backlight of the tricorder cast a small illumination on the ground where Harry was standing, and he realized he was standing about two feet in snow.

"What the…" He mumbled, as he looked around. All he could see was snow on the ground. He reached up and tapped his comm badge, still squinting to see behind the blackness. "Kim to Chakotay." He said, and shivered. He got no response. "Kim to Doctor." Still nothing. "Kim to…" His badge suddenly cut him off.

_"Torres to Kim." _Harry sighed with relief to hear a familiar voice.

"Kim here, where are you?"

_"Standing waist deep in some sort of sludge. You are the only one I can contact, _Voyager_ isn't even responding to my hails." _

"We must be close to each other… I am still trying to figure out why we were separated in transport."

_"I wondered that too. Try a tricorder bridge, lets see if we can find each other." _

"Good idea… hold on." His tricorder suddenly started beeping. "I found you… You are standing about fifteen feet below me." His tricorder started beeping again. "Hold on a sec… I found the Commander and the Doctor. They are approximately fifty feet above me."

_"Well at least we have an approximation. I hope your not standing in the same nasty stuff I'm standing in, I wonder what this place is?" _

"Well I am about to freeze to death. I'm standing in snow, and if I had known, I would have dressed for it."

_"Your not the only one, Starfleet. I sure would have liked to pack a pair of waders for this occasion." _Harry chuckled softly.

"I wonder how we can turn the lights on in here." He said, half to himself.

_"Why don't you try asking?" _B'Elanna said, jokingly.

"Lights on!" Harry said loudly in response to her sarcasm. Suddenly, the area lit up brightly. Harry gasped at the scene, for he was standing on the edge of an icy cliff, overlooking a huge frozen ocean as far as his eyes could see.

_"Did it work, Starfleet?" _B'Elannas voice sounded distant through his comm badge, for he was blown away at the scene before him.

"…A little too well." He said softly. "Lieutenant, I seem to be outside, in the snow, overlooking a frozen ocean."

_"What the hell are you talking about? Lights on!" _He heard her say. _"Oh God." _

"What is it?" Harry asked, still perplexed with the view. He started to shiver from the cold.

_"Tell me something Starfleet, how can this station be bigger on the inside than it is on the outside?" _


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Chakotay squinted as he woke up, the sunlight in his eyes was almost unbearable. A few moments of blinking, he finally was able to see clearly. He looked around, and found himself in the middle of what seemed to be a rainforest. After he tried hailing the members of his team, he opened his tricroder and scanned the area.

"How did I end up here?" He muttered to himself, for as far as the tricorders scanners could reach, it revealed nothing but forest. No outer walls, no holographic signatures, no evidence of him being on a space station whatsoever. He looked around for a few moments, and decided to try a basic search pattern, in efforts to locate his away team. Suddenly, his tricorder started to pick up a weak power signature: the mobile emitter.

Chakotay looked all around for the doctor, or the emitter itself but couldn't see anything. Finally, he gave up and used his tricorder to remotely access the emitters systems. It showed that the doctor was not online, so he activated him.

"Please state—aaaahh!" Chakotay heard from above. He looked up, and saw the Doctor falling from a branch. Chakotay lunged to the side, as the Doctor fell to the ground. "Well I never…" the Doctor said quickly, as he stood up and straightened his uniform.

"Good to have you join me, Doctor." Chakotay grinned.

"What happened? Where is the station? What happed to Ensign Kim and Lieutenant B'Elanna?"

"Slow down, Doctor. Something happened during transport, and we were separated from the rest of the away team. As for where we are, I have no clue."

"Well we need to start a search. Can we contact _Voyager?_"

"I tried calling them, but I got no response."

"Strange." The Doctor mumbled, as he flipped open his tricorder and started scanning the area. "Commander, look at this. I am getting a faint energy reading a few feet above us." Chakotay opened his tricorder back up and started scanning the area, and sure enough there was a faint energy signature.

"I wonder if we are in a holodeck, or some type of simulation." Chakotay said aloud.

"Mmm" The Doctor mumbled at Chakotays remark, as he passed his medical tricorder all around.

"What's 'mmm' mean?" Chaoktay asked

"Commander, holographic signatures are detectable by our tricorders. For example, look." The Doctor waved the portable scanner over his own body, and pointed the tricorder to Chakotay so he could see the readouts.

"I can see it, the magnetic field generators and the holographic force field emitters. Doctor, I already knew you were a hologram."

"Yes but that's not the point. The point is…" The Doctor started, as he bent down and ran the portable scanner over a vine on the ground. "…the point is that these plants, this air, and this environment, are _real._"

--

_"Transporter room two to Bridge." _ The comm chirped aboard _Voyager._

"Janeway here." Captain Kathryn Janeway glanced up from a padd she was reading to acknowledge the comm call.

_"Captain, I believe something went wrong with the transport." _Janeway frowned

"Explain…" She said.

_"Well I'm really not sure what it is… but when the away team materialized on the other side, the transporter briefly recorded different coordinates for them. Now I cant get a lock at all… I don't know where they went." _

"But they did set down ok?"

_"Yes Ma'am, they are over there somewhere." _

"Send the logs to the bridge. Janeway out." She said. "Tuvok, analyze those logs, and start scanning for the away team. Tom, take us closer to the station, that might help our scanning range."

A moment later, after _Voyager_ was repositioned, Tuvok had some news.

"Captain, I am still having problems scanning the interior of that station. Curious…" Tuvok trailed off, getting lost in the readouts.

"What is it?" Janeway asked, as she looked up at him.

"I cannot explain it. For a brief moment, I was able to get a scan of the deck the away team was supposed to set down on."

"And what makes that 'curious'?"

"The scans were infinity reflected back upon each other for a brief moment. I did not see anything what so ever, just the sensor beam being reflected back on itself." Janeway blinked, and when she opened her eyes, the bridge was empty. She gasped, and jumped out of her seat. She turned her head when she heard the ready room doors open, revealing Q. She suddenly lost it.

"Q! What the hell is going on? Are you responsible for all of this?" She abruptly stopped when she saw his solemn expression.

"Hello, Kathryn." He spoke slowly. "I am not responsible for anything but the disappearance of your bridge crew. I wanted to talk with you alone for a moment."

Janeway knew Q well enough to know that something was wrong. This time, he wasn't playing around.

"Q, what's wrong?" She asked, as walked up to him.

"I came to warn you… to inform you of what you are getting yourself into. That space station outside your ship, it was never meant to be discovered."

"What?" Janeway asked, as she glanced back to the viewscreen. Q shifted his weigh uneasily, and walked slowly towards the screen.

"Kathryn, there are some things even the Q are afraid of. What lies within the walls of that space station is one of them."

"How can you be afraid of it? Doesn't the Q have unlimited control of space and time? Don't you know everything about everybody in the universe?" Janeway countered.

"Kathy… I came here to warn you. That thing was hidden from existence for a _very_ long time, and for reasons unknown… its here. Space and time, and your laws of physics and even the very fiber of reality, they are all altered within those walls. It is out of our league, and now all that I know, you know. Best of luck to you." Q said, and with a bright flash of light he was gone.


	5. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Lieutenant Torres fought to keep balanced, as she slowly walked foreword in the marshland. Her destination was a ledge a few dozen feet away, but it was slow going walking in the muck that was up to her waist. Thankfully during transport, she had been holding her tricorder above her waist, or else it would probably have been fried by the liquids. She pressed a few buttons on the tricorder, and set it to active scan mode. As soon as she got to dry land, she planned to reconfigure her comm badge to emit a distress signal that hopefully _Voyager_ could lock on to.

_"K-k-kim to T-torres." _Harry's voice stuttered over the comm signal.

"Whats wrong?" She replied to him, still slowly walking towards dry land.

_"B'Elanna, I c-cant stand this cold much l-longer. I don't have enough clothing to survive it!" _

"I thought about that, are there any rocks nearby?"

_"I found something that r-resembled a rock, but when I t-tried to heat it up with my p-phaser, it crumbled." _

"Well there is plenty of heat where I am. Your welcome to join me if you…" She suddenly heard her tricorder making a strange noise.

_"Are you still there?" _Harry asked

"Yeah, but my tricorder is doing something strange." She replied, and stopped walking to look at her tricorder. All the lights on the unit stopped blinking, and the screen started to flicker. It was also emanating a strange noise. Suddenly, the screen went dead, but it was still making the noise. "What the hell…" As she observed it, lights started to flicker at random on the device. "Harry, is your tricorder still bridged with mine?"

_"S-sure is, I've still got an active link." _

"Access its file structure, I think mine is having a meltdown." A moment later, Harry responded.

_"More like being reprogrammed. Lieutenant, almost all the Starfleet p-programming has been deleted, and being replaced with something else!" _

B'Elanna raised her eyebrows, staring at the unit still flickering. "Harry, you better terminate the bridge. I don't want yours getting infected too."

_"Uh-oh. It's not letting me! My screen is starting to flicker!" _

"Take the power cell out!" She started wading faster this time, trying to get to the ledge. A moment later, Harry responded to her.

_"I took the power cell out… Oh God, its getting c-colder…" _

"Harry, stay with me. We are going to figure a way to get you out of there."

_"Its getting so much colder…" _He said again, his voice getting softer over the comm link. B'Elanna finally reached the ledge, and climbed out of the gunk.

"Harry, I'm on dry ground now, stay with me… keep talking."

_"Cant see, so cold. S-so c-c…"_

"Harry? Harry, respond!" B'Elanna said, as she was wiping the green sludge off her uniform. Her comm badge remained silent. She tapped it again. "Torres to Kim! _Dammit!_ Harry, respond!" Still getting no reply, she scanned the area around her with her eyes. She had made it to the ledge, and was now overlooking the swamp she had just been in. A few hundred yards on the other side of the swamp seemed to be another rising in the land, but nothing man made seemed to be nearby. She looked behind her, and saw a grassy field, and a forest after that. Her tricorder suddenly started to beep wildly. "What the…"

The tricorder suddenly flickered out, and completely died. "Damn!"

--

In the ice cold world that the transporter set Harry Kim down on, the wind blew furiously over a frozen body, curled up in the fetal position clutching onto a tricorder.

--

The Doctor smiled at himself mildly, when he noticed the Commanders uniform was getting soaked in sweat. He of course was still completely dry, since holograms didn't sweat. They had been walking in a standard search pattern for the past forty five minutes.

"I think it's getting hotter." Chakotay muttered as he leaned up on a tree to catch his breath.

"I wouldn't know." The doctor replied, still scanning the area. "Can I borrow your tricorder? I think mine is having issues over here."

"What are you talking about?" Chakotay asked, as he walked over to the Doctor, trying to avoid the sunshine by walking in the shade.

"Look, my screen is flickering." The doctor said, as he pressed a few buttons on the small device, trying to correct the problem.

"Let me see it." Chakotay asked, and took the scanner. "This is odd, I've never seen a tricorder do this before."

"Me either."

"Well, we'll just use mine for the time being. Might as well put this one away." He closed it, and handed it back to the Doctor. "My tricorder is still detecting that faint energy signature above our heads, it seems to be everywhere we are. I don't know what to think of it." Chakotay finished.

"Yes, that is odd. Hey, look the rainforest seems to stop over there, lets go over to the top of that hill and see what we can see." The Doctor observed. A few feet away the trees seemed to end, to be replaced by a mildly large hill.

"Good idea, we might can see over a lot of this stuff when we get to the top."

After a long few minutes of climbing, the two Starfleet officers reached the top of the hill. Chakotay let out a long whistle when he over looked what was below him. On the other side of the hill was a large flat plain, two circular lakes, and in the middle of it all were stone ruins that looked exactly like Stonehenge, back on Earth.

"I'm no expert Commander," The Doctor started, "but I'm guessing those shouldn't be here."

"Doctor, truer words have never been spoken." Chakotay muttered, as he stared in awe.


	6. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

"Captain Janeway, personal log. The strange visit from our old friend Q has left me wondering what this is all about. I find it very hard to accept that the Q have no grounds here, and yet I can't help but wonder. I have never seen Q so concerned, so serious. It leaves me wondering what the next step is to retrieving my lost comrades. Tuvok conducted several scans of the outer shell of the station and detected several docking ports. He has informed me that we may be able to adapt one of _Voyagers_ outer ports to match it, therefore docking with the station. I'm not too sure if I like the idea of doing that, since still don't know what happened to my officers…" Janeway trailed off, staring out the ready room window at the looming station.

_"Bridge to Janeway."_ Tuvoks strong voice snapped her attention back to the task at hand.

"Computer save and end log. Janeway here, go ahead."

_"Captain, I believe you should come to the bridge." _Janeway frowned.

"On my way." She tapped her comm badge, and grunted as she stood up. She quickly walked across the room, and onto the bridge of her ship. "Report." She asked Tuvok, as she walked up to his station.

"Captain, a moment ago I detected a small power source. I believe something over there is active now."

"Can you be more specific?" Janeway asked, as she leaned over to look at Tuvoks panel.

"Not as of now. For some reason… standby." He said, as he acknowledged a sudden beeping noise. "We are being scanned." He finally concluded. Janeway frowned.

"Raise shields." She said, as she started to walk to her chair.

"Shields up." He replied.

"Captain!" Tom said with concern from his post. He pointed to the viewscreen. When Captain Janeway looked up at it, she saw the most prominent markings on the station had illuminated bright blue. She frowned once more.

"Captain, the station is emitting some sort of beam at us, it is penetrating our shields!" Tuvok announced.

"Red alert! Start rotating the shield frequencies." Janeway countered. Suddenly, main power started to fluctuate, and the lights and computer consoles on the bridge started flickering.

"Something is trying to gain access to the main computer core! I am attempting to lock it out." Tuvok said. Suddenly, a piercing shrill whistle started to ring out on the bridge. The noise was so painful, Janeway fell to the ground. She forced her eyes open to see everyone falling to their knees, clutching their ears. Even Tuvok had fallen to the noise, and was on the ground in agony. All Janeway could think about was how much she wanted the noise to stop, and suddenly she heard Harry Kims voice in her head.

"…_I designed it to allow a much quicker lockout of the main computer, in case we are ever boarded."_

_The computer lockout!_ Janeway attempted to raise her voice above the shrill ear-piercing noise.

"_Computer!_" She yelled, and strained to hear the response. She thought that she heard the responding beep, although she couldn't even be sure if the computer was able to hear her or not. With the last of the strength she had, she finished the command and then collapsed.

It took the main computer a moment to filter out Janeways voice from the interference, and recognize the command it was given. A moment later, it replied.

-_Voiceprint confirmed. Lockout initiated. All systems have been secured. _Its response fell on deaf ears however, for the entire crew had been rendered completely unconscious.

--

B'Elanna felt as if she had been walking for days. She had crossed two large hills, and walked through three extremely lengthy fields. She was now on her third hill, slowly climbing it. After she had completely exhausted all Klingon curses, she had started using all the human ones she could think of while climbing the hill. She had given up on contacting anyone, and her tricorder was now a useless piece of junk. Every few minutes it made a stray noise, but other than that it was completely dead. She also had to face the unfortunate truth that her colleague and friend, Harry Kim was probably frozen dead now. She was beginning to wonder if she would ever see her home back on _Voyager. _Or see any life again at all. She finally reached the top of the hill, and nearly fell backwards at the sight before her. The field below her had two circular lakes, and a very good resemblance of Stonehenge. Although B'Elanna didn't know much about it, she knew enough to recognize it. And that was it.

"What the hell is that doing here?" She mumbled to herself. Suddenly, she thought she saw something move behind one of the rocks. She was too far away to see what it was, but it seemed to be a human form. She grabbed her tricorder by instinct, and flipped it open. It spouted out an annoying garble of beeps. Suddenly, all of her rage just flourished. "_You worthless p'tahk!" _She screamed as loud as possible, snapped the tricorder in half, and threw it as hard as she could.

--

"Did you hear that?" Chakotay frowned, as he looked up from one of the stones.

"I sure did." The Doctor said, as he looked around. "And it sounded like an angry Klingon." He finished, as he pointed to the opposite hill from which they came. Chakotay turned and saw a distant figure jumping up and down on the crest of the hill. He smiled, realizing they had just found a member of their away team.

"Chakotay to Torres!" He said into his comm badge.

_"Toh-pah! Your are more useless than a t'ooho'mIrah!" _Chakotays badge blurted loudely. It stopped, and they heard panting on the other end. _"Commander?" _She suddenly realized she was being spoken to.

"Its me. The Doctor and I are down here by these stones. What are you so mad about?"

_"My Mak'dar excuse for a tricorder. Ill explain in a minute. Torres out." _The comm signal terminated, and the figure in the horizon started jogging toward them.

"Ah, Klingon temper. Something of an art, in my eyes."

"Doctor, ill tell you what. Now is your chance to study the art of Klingon tempers. _You _deal with her when she gets here."

"What? Me?" Chakotay snickered at the sudden panic in the Doctors voice.

"Yes, you." Was his final reply.

--

This one may have some errors in it, I just wrote it and posted it. Sorry about that.


	7. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

The bridge of the Federation Starship _Voyager_ sat idle, for the entire crew lay sprawled out on the floor unaware to what was going on around them. Suddenly, there was a flash of bright light, and the physical parameters of the bridge crew was scanned and recorded. A being, of extremely advanced intelligence appeared on the bridge. It looked somewhat like an incomplete holographic persons template for all it had was a human form, no defining attributes.

The grey colored being slowly glided across the bridge from its original position in the middle, to the helm. When it manually tried to access the computer, it came against a block: _LCARS – SYSTEM LOCKED._ The being then drifted to another panel, and tried again… and ultimately ran across the same message. It suddenly disappeared, and then reappeared in main engineering. Without interference from the crew for the moment, it tried to access the ships systems from there. Still, it got the same response – 'system locked.' The being was suddenly frustrated with itself, for underestimating these strange creatures. _No matter._ It thought. _I will bring them down the hard way. _It suddenly was back on the bridge of the ship, and it knelt down near Janeways body. It touched her forehead twice and repeated it on every member of the bridge crew. _That should do it. _It thought, and vanished.

--

"Harry Kim. Born in South Carolina in 2349. Died today on a desolate frozen rock." Harry opened his eyes, and found himself standing in area of pure white light. The voice that had spoken didn't seem to have a face, because he didn't see anyone around. As a matter of fact, he couldn't see anything but white light.

"I am dead?" He asked loudly, trying to reach someone.

"Yes, you are. Don't you remember?" The booming voice replied. Suddenly, Harry found himself standing over a frozen body in the icy wind. The difference was he didn't feel any cold this time. "That's you. Your life terminated about two minutes ago, due to extreme cold temperatures." Harry bent down and looked at himself curled up in a ball, completely frozen. A strange sensation it was, to look at your own dead body. With a flash of light, he was back in the white expanse.

"Are you… God?" Harry asked, still looking around for a face to put the voice with.

"…no." Came the reply. "I am… good."

"Excuse me?" Harry asked as he felt a wave of confusion.

"Harry Kim, your death was unexpected. It wasn't planned. It happened by an unfortunate event. I stopped you from passing on just yet, to help you so you can help me." The voice said again.

"Ok, I am officially lost." Harry said, as he threw his arms up in the air.

"You see… the universe is filled with good and evil. I am good. What your vessel encountered is evil… pure evil."

"Still lost." Harry said again, still trying to comprehend what he was being told.

"Right now, your ships take over is inevitable. But with you on my side, we can counteract evil and prevail!"

"Look, I am all for defeating evil and everything but why does my ship, _one _ship matter?"

"Because! It just does. Because it wasn't supposed to happen. What is happening now is not what was written, therefore it needs to be changed… fixed."

"Why do you need me?"

"Because it wasn't your turn to die! I have to send you back! Look, I am planting things in your ship to aide you, things to help you along. I will come back to you and explain further if necessary. But now, have your life back. Good luck, Harry Kim of _Voyager!_"

--

Tuvok opened his eyes, and noticed he was staring at the ceiling of the bridge. He righted himself, and stood up. He walked down to the front of the room, and helped Captain Janeway stand up.

"I have one hell of a headache." She muttered as she stood.

"As do I." He replied, and got a small grin out of her." They helped everyone else up, and finally got everyone to their stations.

"Computer, lift security lockout only on the bridge. Authorization Janeway delta epsilon omega four.

_-Voiceprint confirmed. All bridge functions have been re-instated. _"Tuvok, full sensor scan. What happened?" She asked, as she rubbed her head.

"I am not sure… Captain, I found the away teams comm signals!" He suddenly said. Janeway jumped out of her seat.

"Computer, reinstate all ship functions. Janeway to transporter room two, get our people out of there, _now!_"

--

"So are we on earth, or what?" B'Elanna asked Chakotay as they stood under a large stone, looking at the marvel of Stonehenge.

"I don't really think so, It just doesn't feel right. Besides, I don't think _Voyagers _transporters can reach quite that far." Chakotay replied, as he propped his foot up on a rock.

"Lets not forget the odd power signature," The Doctor started. "that and mine and B'Elannas tricorders loosing their minds."

"Yeah, that's an issue too. We must be dealing with an advanced alien race." Chakotay said. Suddenly, B'Elanna jumped up.

"I'm tingling!" She said quickly.

"Hum?" The Doctor frowned, and started to move toward her.

"I am too!" Chakotay exclaimed, as he looked at the Doctor.

"It's the transporter!" B'Elanna said, excitedly as the matter stream swept over them. "We are saved!"

--

Again, probably some errors.. sorry. I just hope you enjoy it.


	8. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

"_The trauma to his entire system was extreme, but with a little ingenuity and a lot of luck, I managed to stabilize his life signs. It really is a miracle he was alive, and I do expect him to make a full recovery." _The Doctors voice rang though the communication system on the bridge for all to hear.

"When do you expect him to be back on his feet?" Captain Janeway asked, with a look of concern still on her face.

"_Hard to say, he is resting now. I estimate he will be ready for duty in about twelve hours. It just depends on how he feels when he wakes up." _

"Thanks, Doctor. Keep me informed, Bridge out." Janeway looked up at her first officer, a thoughtful look on her face. "So you were separated during transport. What do you think we are dealing with here?" Janeway asked him, as she sat down in her chair.

"Your guess is as good as mine, frankly. We saw Stonehenge, and up until now it was thought to be located only on earth. B'Elanna said that Harry was in a world full of ice, obviously since he beamed back frozen. And then there was B'Elanna and the Doctors tricorders."

"Yes, what was that all about?"

"Well, B'Elanna said that her tricorder seemed to be being reprogrammed, and it had the same symptoms that the Doctors had. We only made it back to the ship with the Doctors however, because B'Elanna… well she snapped hers in half and beat it to death."

"Ah. Well I think she mentioned something about doing tests on the Doctors tricorder… I wonder if she has figured anything out…"

--

"Computer, create a separate and secure data block, and copy all contents of this medical tricorder to it."

_-Acknowledged. Copy in progress, standby._

Vorik walked up behind B'Elanna Torres and raised an eyebrow as he looked over her shoulder at the defective scanning device.

"What do you hope to accomplish?" He asked.

"Well, I am hoping that I will be able to figure out what happened to the Doctors tricorder. If I download the file structure into the ships computer, we should be able to analyze it." She replied to him.

"Are you not concerned about further infection?"

"I thought about that, but I set up a secure data block to put the information in, so it should be able to contain anything."

-_Tricorder download complete._

"Good, computer analyze the data blocks contents, and cross reference it with a normal tricorder file structure. Display any anomalies."

-_Acknowledged. Standby._

"See, Harry was able to access my tricorder through an active bridge, and was able to see that it was being reprogrammed. I am hoping that this will have somewhat of the same effect." Vorik stood silent, and watched the computer display remain unchanged. A few minutes later of standing in silence, B'Elanna finally said something. "This is taking way to long. Computer, status?" She got no response. "Not good!" She quickly said, and ran to a different station. "Vorik, start a diagnostic! I am going to disable that data block!"

--

The Doctor was resting in his office, with his feet propped up on the table. He had decided to expand his musical pallet, and he decided on a Klingon Opera. The singing of _Aktuh and Maylota_ rang out over the speakers in the small office, just loud enough for the Doctor to enjoy without disturbing his patient. Without warning, the red alert klaxon blared and his music abruptly stopped. He jumped out of his seat, and looked around the room.

"Computer, report." He said, as he walked toward the biobed that Harry Kim was on.

-_Core damaged. Responses limited. _Came the response.

"What?" The Doctor said, thinking. Suddenly, his image flickered. "Oh dear!" He muttered to himself, as he took off in a sprint towards his office. The moment he reached his emitter, he slapped it on his arm and issued the proper command to save himself.

-_Holoprogram transfer protocols offline, unable to comply. _He slammed his fist on the table, as he flickered again.

"Sickbay to bridge!"

-_Communications systems are offline. _The lights in the room started to flicker as well. Running out of options, he dashed to Harrys biobed. He grabbed a hypospray, and inserted the proper medication into it. Before he was able to administer it however, his program flickered again and it fell through his hand.

"Damnit!" He grumbled, as he bent down and picked it back up. As quick as he could, he injected Harry in the neck, just as sickbay went pitch black. The Doctor cringed, but then he realized he was still online.

"Mm-uggh." Came a mumble from the bed, as Harry started to regain consciousness.

"Ensign Kim! Wake up!" The Doctor hissed, as he looked around the dark room. He suddenly remembered an emergency torch in his office, and he dashed to get it. After he found it, he managed to drop it twice because his program was too unstable to hold solid objects.

"…Doc?" Harry muttered, as he slowly sat up.

"Don't go to fast… you are under a lot of stress. I had to wake you up, the ships computer is undergoing a crisis and I can't transfer my program to my mobile emitter!" Suddenly, the ship rocked violently, as all power in sickbay suddenly went offline. Harry heard the Doctors program fizzle out along with the rest of the emergency lighting in the room. Everything went pitch black.


	9. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

-_Warning_, _Regeneration Cycle Incomplete. _Seven of Nine's alcove announced, as she opened her eyes. She straightened her body up and stepped out of the alcove, and immediately noticed the room was pitch black with the exception of the green tint of the Borg components.

"Seven of Nine to the Bridge." She announced to the dark room, and got no response. She frowned, and walked towards the computer panel. It only took a second for her to come to the conclusion that all power seemed to be offline. She immediately reached down under the panel and pulled out her tricorder, and flipped it open. The small device sent scanning pulses throughout the ship, and displayed the readouts. Sevens tricorder detected no power with the exception of a small spike in sickbay.

--

With a horrible headache, Harry Kim crawled around the dark room in search for the emergency torch the Doctor dropped when he was deactivated. He finally found it and switched it on, creating a dim beam of light in the room.

"Kim to Bridge." He muttered after he stood back up, and shone the light around the room. Nothing happened. "Computer, report." He still received no reply. "I need the Doctor…" Harry mumbled, and bent down and picked the mobile emitter up off the floor where it had fallen. _'…the ships computer is undergoing a crisis and I can't transfer my program to my mobile emitter!'_ Harry remembered the Doctor say right before he went offline. With those words in mind, Harry walked to the Doctors office and tapped a few buttons on the computer terminal. Nothing happened. With a few minutes of working, Harry was able to use the mobile emitters power cell to reactivate the sickbay computer. He accessed the Doctors program, and manually copied it to the emitter. Harry then detached the emitter from the terminal, and held it up in place as he activated it.

"Please state the nature… Ensign Kim!" The Doctor exclaimed, as he recognized Harrys face from the dim emergency torch. "Have you found out anything?"

"No, after you woke me up power went out. I concentrated all my efforts on getting you back up."

"Thanks. We need to find out what's going on with the ship! We need to get to the bridge!"

"I agree, we should…" He abruptly stopped when he heard the main doors to sickbay being forced open.

"Who's there?" The Doctor yelled out.

"Seven of Nine." Came the irritated response from the darkness.

"Seven!" Harry exclaimed, and rushed to help her open the doors. After she was in sickbay, she leaned up against a biobed and rubbed her head.

"Are you alright?" The Doctor asked, and picked up a medical tricorder.

"I am not sure. Ever since I left the cargo bay, my ocular implant has been producing a small amount of pain." The Doctor frowned at her, as he flipped open his tricorder and removed the small scanner. He swept it over her head and then looked at the readouts.

"Odd… It seems to be getting a small amount of interference. Your biological systems are interpreting it as pain."

"Interference from what?" She asked, still annoyed.

"Could it be that space station?" Harry interjected.

"Could be. I cant figure anything else out without the power to sickbay. Here, this should help for the time being." The Doctor replied, and pressed a hypospray against her neck.

"That is satisfactory for now." Seven said, and slid off the biobed. Suddenly, her pocketed tricorder started to beep. She opened it, and looked up at Harry and the Doctor. "It seems that power has been restored to the Bridge. I suggest we go there."

"Agreed." Harry said.

--

The body of Kathryn Janeway stood up, and looked around the bridge of the ship. She looked at her hands, and to the rest of the bridge officers around her. The body of Tom Paris glanced over at her, and then up at Tuvok.

"Looks like B'Elanna got power back up. Tom, back us away from that station." Chakotay said, still looking down at the panel between the command chairs. Janeway pointed her finger at Chakotay, while looking at Tom. He got up, and slowly started walking towards Chakotay. Janeway then looked up at Tuvok, and pointed again. Tuvok left his post, and slowly started walking towards Chakotay. Chakotay suddenly looked up, and frowned. "Whats going on? Get back to your stations!" Tom jumped him, and tackled him to the ground. Tuvok came up behind, and secured his hands behind his back. "Let go of me! Help!" Chakotay yelped, and then he looked up at his captain.

Janeway stood there, looking down at him. "I have to congratulate your species, Chakotay. They were a small challenge." Chakotay stopped his struggling, and looked around the room. Everyone stood there watching, a gleam of amusement in their eyes. He immediately knew that he was the only one still human on the bridge.

"To who am I speaking with?" He asked Janeway, for she still seemed to be the leader. She smiled before she responded.

"Smart as well, you seem to be. My name is Nekieth. Star military leader of the Vanretna government. This is Triiten, my first," She said as she pointed to Tom Paris, "And Haniten, my second." She pointed to Tuvok.

"What have you done with my comrades? Are their intelligence still inside their bodies?" Chakotay asked, obviously worried.

"For the moment." Came the short reply. "Take him to their brig once all power has been restored." She said, as she started to walk around the room.

"Do you not want to convert him?" Triiten asked, from Toms body.

"No. He will remain our… ambassador to their people. Is that the correct word?" Nekieth asked, with a wide smile on her face. "Remove him from my sight immediately."

Two of the other bridge officers came up behind Chakotay, and took him away. Janeways body walked back to her chair, and sat down. "Begin repairs to this vessel. Start the conversion for the rest of the crew, and make sure you don't miss the ones that were on our station."

"Right away, Nekieth." Haniten replied, and started to walk off the bridge.

"Oh, and one more thing. Lets call each other by their names."  
"Why?" Triiten asked as he turned to her, somewhat shocked.

"Because its interesting, now get to work!" Nekieth replied. She sat there for a moment, then grinned. "It sure is great to be back!"

--

If your confused, refer back to the very beginning of Chapter Six.

Please Review! Thanks…


	10. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

"Turn your lights off." Seven said as she abruptly stopped walking in the corridor.

"What? Why?" The Doctor and Harry said as they stopped behind her.

"Just do it, and be quiet." Seven snapped, as she ushered them into a corner of the completely dark hallway. They stood crammed in corner for a moment, until they suddenly heard voices.

"Nekieth assigned us to engineering. Our orders are to restore power and convert the rest of this ships crew, so whoever you run across, convert them immediately."

"Yes, Haniten. Immediately, sir." Came the reply. The footsteps walked right by them, and faded off into the distance.

"That sounded like Tuvok!" The Doctor whispered, panic in his voice.

"Well he sure wasn't talking like Tuvok," Harry started, "and that other person didn't address him as Tuvok either. Did he call him 'Haniten'"?

"Yes, he did. I believe it is safe to assume that the bridge has been compromised. We seem to be dealing with aliens that have taken over the bodies of the command staff." Seven said with concern. "Tuvok also mentioned a 'Nekieth'. Maybe he or she is the leader."

"At least of that group." Harry responded.

"Can we get out of this corner now?" The Doctor grumbled, for they were all still huddled into the small corner. A few moments later, they were walking again, with their lights off in the dark.

"I believe we should get to a weapons locker first." Harry started to say. Suddenly, the lights in the corridor flickered a few times and then lit up to full power.

"Uh-oh." The Doctor muttered.

"We need to conceal ourselves. We will have to proceed to the weapons locker via Jeffries tubes." Seven announced, as she turned a corner and opened a hatch. After they all climbed in, Harry spoke up.

"Doctor, you said earlier that the computer was undergoing some sort a crisis, what did you mean by that?"

"I asked it something and it replied that the core was damaged. Why?" The Doctor replied, as they all crawled through the tube.

"Compuer, status?" Harry queried.

-_Core Damaged. Responses limited. _

"Elaborate, what happened to the core?"

_-Security lockouts have been compromised. Operating system and data are being rewritten. _

"It seems these aliens do not waste their time." Seven said, as she came to an access port at the end of the tube and opened it.

"My quarters are a few doors down, lets go there and start a plan." Harry said, as they all crawled out of the tube, and quickly ran to his quarters. Once they were secured inside, Harry looked at his friends. "Anyone have any suggestions?"

Seven spoke up. "I believe we should take a look at what is happening to the computer core."

"Good idea. Computer, display the core file structure." A moment later, the small computer on his desk lit up. All three of them walked over to it and looked.

"That doesn't look good." The Doctor said, pessimistically.

"The entire core is being rewritten. I don't see much of its original data in there at all. It looks like the basic voice commands are still in place but that's about it… Seven do you think you could design a algorithm to delete all the new data and restore our data?" Harry turned to her.

"Possibly. I would need to know more about… this is strange." She stopped, and looked at the display.

"What?" The Doctor piped up.

"This isn't the entire core. _Voyagers_ core holds much more information than this." Seven replied, a perplexed look on her face.

"Unless…" Harry trailed off.

"Unless what?" The Doctor and Seven replied at the same time.

"Unless the backup core is offline. It makes sense… _Voyagers_ secondary computer core works in unison with the main one, creating double storage and processing power. The cores are designed to work together, but alone if necessary. Look, at the processing yield- it's half that of what it normally is! The secondary core isn't online! This might be exactly what we need!" Harry said, now very excited.

"I fail to see how that is good for us." Seven replied.

"Have faith, Seven! We need to get to the secondary core control room. I have a few phasers in here and a tricorder or two, that will help." Harry replied, as he took off toward another room of his quarters.

--

Nekieth looked around the bridge of the starship _Voyager_ and yawned. It startled him for a moment, he was still trying to get used to being in the body of a human. For starters, the body he was in was a female of this species. As odd as it seamed, he was getting somewhat accustomed to it. Then there was the getting tired part. He still didn't quite understand why he was getting tired, but then it must have been something about the body. He decided to go to the 'ready room' and rest for a few minutes.

"Triiten in the body of Tom Paris." He said, and looked to his side at his first. "I give you my command for the present, and all the responsibilities that lie within it until I return." Triiten stood up, bowed to him, and replied.

"I accept your command knowing all the responsibilities and challenges. I will hold order until your return." Nekieth nodded, and walked to the ready room. The décor didn't really please him either, but the couch was comfortable and within minutes he was asleep.

"Who are you?" A voice suddenly said, and immediately he bolted up. He was staring at Katrhyn Janeway. "You wont succeed. I will get my ship… and my body back." She said, as she narrowed her eyes. He jumped up, and glanced down at his body. He was in his natural state.

"How did you…" He started before she interrupted him.

"I'm in your mind. In my mind." She replied. "Why don't you give up now, while you still can." She walked over to her desk, and ran her finger across it.

"However your doing this, I am still in control. Your species will fall to mine." He said triumphantly as he stood from her couch.

"I doubt it," Janeway smiled coyly. "you underestimate us."

_"Triiten... Paris to Janeway"_ The comm voice sounded so far away. Nekieth jumped up off the couch and looked around. He was back in the body of Janeway. Was it a dream? He shook the eerie feeling off and walked back to the bridge, thinking about her words.


	11. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Harry crawled out of the access hatch, and into the dark room containing the backup computer core. Seven of Nine and the Doctor crawled out behind him, and looked around blindly.

"Lights." Seven commanded, and suddenly the room light up brightly, revealing the tall and powerful backup processor.

"How should we proceed?" The Doctor asked, as he looked up at the large piece of equipment.

"Well first, we see why it was offline. Then we try to reactivate it…" Harry trailed off, as he pressed a few buttons on the panel next to the core. "Ah. This isn't going to be as hard as I thought." He pressed a sequence of buttons on the panel, and suddenly a rush of power surged through the room as the core activated.

Harry cleared his throat. "Computer, core status?"

_-Secondary core is now online and operating at peak efficiency. _The room replied.

"Computer, why was this core offline?"

_-This core was taken offline one week and three days ago due to a redundant isolinear controller failure that was caused by an EPS power overload. _

"And the problem was corrected?"

_-Affirmative._

"Lieutenant Torres must not had gotten the chance to reactivate it before this crisis occurred." Seven speculated.

"Computer, isolate this processor from the rest of the ship. No data feeds coming in or out." Harry said.

"A sensible precaution." Seven started. "We don't want this core becoming infected as well. We should also tie our comm badges directly into this core, since it is the only one not affected by the alien programming."

"I agree. Seven, give me a hand over here… we have a lot of work to do."

--

Chakotay sat on the small bench, watching the guard outside of the forcefield. He guessed main power had been back online for a few hours, but he couldn't figure out how the aliens had compromised ships security, and the bodies of the crew so quickly. His thinking was interrupted for a moment when he observed the guard, who looked up at the doors to the brig as they opened. Kathryn Janeway walked up to the forcefield and smiled.

"Hello, Chakotay."

"Nekieth." Chakotay murmured in response.

"I just wanted to drop by and let you know that my people have successfully converted your crew. Although… we are having trouble locating two of your people."

_Oh? _Chakotays mind jumped.

"Your ships crew manifest lists a 'Seven of Nine' and a 'Harry Kim', neither of them have been accounted for. I was hoping you could explain this for me." She finished, and stood there with her arms crossed. Chakotay sat there in silence as his response. Janeway raised her eyebrows, and uncrossed her arms. "An interesting people you are." She said, as she reached her arm out and touched the forcefield. It suddenly became visible, reacting to the touch with a sparking sound and an angry array of blue light.

Chakotay flinched a bit, as he watched her press harder into the field…, which remained constantly in place. She finally pulled her hand back and observed the redness of the skin due to energy burn. "So frail." She paused, and looked back up at him. "No matter. I will find them without your help." She turned and left the room, leaving Chakotay alone again.

--

Nekieth walked out of the brig, and took a left. He quickly walked down the corridor and entered the turbolift.

"Command deck." He said, as he turned and faced the doors.

_-Location unclear. Is your intended destination the Main Bridge?_ The computer responded to his inquiry. "Old habits die hard… yes, Bridge." He muttered as the lift suddenly shot upwards. The moment he was on the bridge, he headed to the conference room. "Triiten, Haniten, I wish to speak with you in private." He said as he walked into the small conference room. A moment later, his military advisors were standing silently in front of him. "Please sit, relax for a moment. Share your thoughts with me." He said as he leaned up against the window. Haniten was the first to open his mouth.

"This ship will serve our needs well." He said with pride.

"Agreed." Triiten said. "I have people searching this ship deck by deck as well in search for the missing people." He finished.

"Good. Anything else to discuss?" Nekieth queried.

"Well I am glad to be out of there… even if am not in my real body!" Haniten said with a smile.

"You got that right… these beat what we have been locked up in, for sure." Triiten agreed with him. The two officers suddenly fell silent as they looked up at Nekieth, in a females form. "What is it like?" Triiten asked, his voice lowered.

"I wouldn't wish it upon either of you, but as stated before, it's better than the alternative. Now back to business. What is the status of their warp core?"

"Operating at peak efficiency for their systems." Haniten replied.

"Dismantle it." Nekieth said. "That invention will do nothing for us, take it apart and use the components for something else. If something were to happen, and we went into warp…" He trailed off. "well, I don't need to exaggerate how bad that would be for us. Hail to our empire, may it be strong once more!" He suddenly cheered. The two men stood up, and banged their fists on the table twice. "Hail to the Vanretna government, may we be reborn to rule again!"


	12. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

_Vanretna Imperial Government headquarters- Stten Neudecra Galaxy_

_Distance from the Milky Way – too far for measurement. _

Commander Briken Dectran stepped down from his command chair, aboard the warship _Voondrek_ . Standing approximately seven feet tall, he glanced down at the viewscreen to his left, which displayed his home world _Trtyan. _

"Receiving a communiqué from Vanretna Imperial Command now, sir." His first said from a seated position to the right of him. Briken nodded, still wondering why they had recalled his ship with such haste. Just days before, the _Voondrek _was on a scouting mission in the neighboring galaxy not scheduled for return for another month… and suddenly received a message to get back to command as fast as possible. Now here they were.

"On viewer." He replied to his first, as he crossed his arms. The large viewer on the left wall of the command deck changed from the outer view of his homeworld, to the face of Superior DenTra. He smiled, for DenTra was an old friend of his. "Superior, I am honored by your communication. How may the _Voondrek_ be of assistance to Imperial Command?" The man on the screen shifted his weight, and broke out in a grin.

_"Briken Dectran, it's about time you got that rusty thing back here, I called for you three days ago! Great to see you again… I just wish it could have been under different circumstances." _

"Watch what you say, you know the _Voondrek _is the best ship in the fleet. And what of bad circumstances? Are things not well in the Vanretna government?"

_"Its not that really… the senate and I agreed to summon you and your crew first. It's about Nekieth and the prison station they were on… it seems they have escaped."_


	13. Chapter Tweleve

Chapter Tweleve

"_Hail to the Vanretna government, may we be reborn to rule again!"_

"Oh dear." The Doctor muttered as the trio stared at the small screen on the wall next to the core. Harry, Seven and the Doctor had tapped in to internal sensors on the bridge, and were monitoring Nekieths briefing. "I wonder what that was all about with the warp core… shouldn't we stop them from dismantling it?"

"We should do more than that…" Harry started, only to be interrupted by Seven.

"We should activate it." She suggested.

"And fly out of here like a bat out of hell." Harry finished, causing Seven to raise an eyebrow.

"Interesting saying, but to the point." She said.

"But what will happen to the aliens?" The Doctor asked, as he leaned up against the core casing.

"We don't have a clue, but whatever it is, its got to be better for us than just sitting here. Right now we are outnumbered beyond help." Harry replied to him. Suddenly, the lights in the room flickered, as the warp core powered down.

"I believe we are operating on impulse generators now." Seven said. "I will proceed to the access tube above main engineering, I believe I can reactivate the warp core from there."

"Good idea, Seven. We need a backup plan in case you fail, Doctor I want you to release a toxin into the environmental system if our plan to jump to warp fails or if we are captured." Harry commanded.

"I'm on it." The Doctor replied. Seven and the Doctor turned and walked back to the access hatch, and suddenly Seven turned back around to Harry.

"What will you be doing?"

"I will be right here trying to keep us undiscovered." He replied. "Good luck Seven…" He said and smiled.

"You too." She replied, climbed into the hatch, and was gone.

Harry stood in the empty room for a moment all by himself, listening to the low thrum of the computer core. He needed a plan of escape if necessary. He stood there for a few moments thinking, and came up blank. Suddenly he looked up at the powerful processor, and got an idea.

"Computer, begin a scenario program. I need help with something."

-_Please proceed with circumstances._ The room replied.

"The ship has been taken over with aliens, and only a few Starfleet members are left. The aliens took the ships warp core offline, and we need to reactivate it. The chances of us getting caught is high and we need a means of escape, but there are no security officers on our side. Recommendations?"

_-Processing, standby. _Harry scratched his head and looked around the room, awaiting the response. –_Recommended solution would be to set up a sequence program designed for a constant site-to-site transport lock, to beam the person or persons out of danger if the need arises. Another precaution would be to disable internal sensors so the persons location can not be traced. _

"Great idea… why didn't I think of that?" Harry muttered. "Computer, create that program for me and label it 'Kim alpha'.

-_Acknowledged. Please state destination transporter coordinates. _Harry suddenly blanked. He didn't have a clue where he should beam to if he was discovered.

"Think, Harry." He mumbled to himself. _With internal sensors down, they wont be able to track me, unless they use our tricorders. Tricorder range is limited, but if they did a thorough enough sweep they could find me anywhere on the ship… wait! _"The starboard nacelle control room, I want to go there." He replied. He remembered something a few months ago about how the tricorders could not detect anything in the nacelles from the main part of the ship, something about warp plasma interference. Harry smiled, for it seemed things were starting to look up for them.

--

Seven of Nine tapped a button on the door panel, causing the access hatch to slide open. She glanced in it making sure the coast was clear, flipped open her tricorder, and boldly crawled into the tube above main engineering. After a few minutes of working, she came across a block.

"Seven to Kim." She spoke softly into her communicator.

"_Kim here. What's your status?"_

"I have encountered a problem. It seems they disabled several transfer relays on deck four, section twenty-nine. Without those relays in place, the core will not initiate."

"_Damnit. Sit tight, Seven. I'll go down there and re-enable the relays myself. I'll need you to initiate the core as soon as the relays are back in place."_

"Understood. Seven out." She closed her tricorder, and looked around. All she could do now was wait.

--

Harry Kim grunted as he climbed back into the access hatch, heading out of the computer core room. It suddenly dawned on him that once the core was reactivated, someone would need to initiate the warp command.

"Computer." He whispered, still crawling through the cramped Jeffries tube. The responsive beep echoed through the tube. "Access file 'Kim alpha'."

­_-File accessed._

"I need you to create a third command in the program. When _Voyagers_ warp core is activated, I need you to prompt me to initiate it. The third phase needs to be a command to jump straight to maximum warp."

-_Acknowledged. Please input heading and coordinates. _

"Anywhere in the direction of the Alpha Quadrant." He replied.

-_Course plotted and laid in. Command saved. _

_"Doctor to Kim." _Harry's comm badge chirped, as he reached the hatch leading to the main corridor. He stopped at the hatch, and tapped his badge.

"Go ahead Doc."

_"I am ready on my end. I have a suppressant ready to be injected into the environmental system if needed."_

"Good job Doctor. With a little luck we wont need it. Standby, ok?"

_"There is that word, luck. In my opinion you people use it far too much. I'll be waiting. Doctor out." _Harry sighed. _This had better work. _He thought. Harry opened his tricorder to make sure the corridor beyond the hatch was clear. A moment later, he was jogging through the corridor on the way to section twenty-nine.

--

"Sir!" Haniten shouted from tactical. Nekieth stood up from the captains chair and turned to him.

"Yes?"

"An access hatch on deck four just opened. I am tracking a human male running along that corridor."

"…Harry Kim, you finally show yourself." Nekieth muttered. "Get yourself down there, and a security team. I want him apprehended, _now._"

--

Harry slowed to a stop at section twenty-nine and ripped the panel off the wall. He immediately noticed that the relays had not been removed, just simply turned off. He smiled to himself as he reached inside the wall and pressed a simple string of commands on the small panel. The two power relays immediately sparked to life, and started humming.

He quickly put the casing back on the wall, and reached up and hit his communicator.

"Harry to Seven, those relays are back online."

_"Understood. I will have the core online within moments." _Suddenly, a phaser beam sizzled past his head and struck the wall behind him. He twirled around and saw Tuvok, and three other security guards pointing phasers at him. He turned the other direction, and ran as fast as he could, hoping the plan would work.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Ensign Harry Kim sprinted down the hallway, being pursuit by four extremely fast security guards, one of which was Tuvok. They were all gaining on him, and fast. Nearly breathless, he mustered the rest of his strength to yell out to the computer.

"Computer, initiate sequence program Kim alpha!"

-_Acknowledged. Secure sequence phase one, initiating. _Harry turned a corner, and ripped his comm badge off his chest the moment he started to dematerialize. Tuvok and his security detail rounded the corner only to find an empty corridor and a badge laying on the carpet.

--

"_Tuvok to Janeway." _Kathryn Janeway crossed her arms, and narrowed her eyes as she stared at the master situation monitor on the back wall of the bridge. She was monitoring the security detachments progress.

"Janeway here." She replied to the badge, and pressed a button on the panel.

"_It seems he rigged the site to site transporter. He beamed out, and left his comm badge behind."_

"Damn. Regroup in Engineering. I will meet you down there. Janeway out."

--

Harry materialized in the starboard nacelle control room, and immediately started searching for a tricorder. He found one laying on a control panel, opened it, and keyed in his command codes. The tricorder immediately routed the computers voice to his location, in the absence of his comm badge.

-_Phase one complete, initiating phase two, standby. _The computer said. Harry leaned up against the wall, and hoped his plan would work.

--

Janeway stormed into Engineering, her hand resting on her phaser in its holster. "Report." She commanded to Tuvok and B'Elanna, who were both standing over a panel.

"He managed to enter in a program into the main computer, and I can't isolate it. He has so many security lockouts on it, we cant even see what the program is designed to do." B'Elanna said, without looking up.

"Well we saw what part of his program did, it let him escape. How many other commands does the program have stored in it?" Janeway asked.

"No way to be sure, my guess would be several… its quite a large file." B'Elanna replied.

"Tuvok, we need to find him… now." Janeway said.

"It's not going to be easy, without his comm badge he is proving hard to track." Tuvok replied. "I am setting up the internal sensors to scan for anomalous heat readings… the scans are coming in now." Suddenly, without warning, sparks started flying from behind the warp core.

--

-_Phase two complete. Internal sensors have been disabled. Standing by for command to initiate phase three._ The computer replied in the control room of the nacelle. Harry breathed a sigh of relief… for he had managed to take the sensors out before he was detected. He grabbed a tool kit and quickly went to work, for he knew he didn't have much time left.

--

"_Damn!" _Torres yelled in fury over the destroyed sensory array. "How the hell did he do that?"

"Because he's the best damn ops officer in Starfleet," Janeway said dryly, staring blankly at her tricorder in her hand. "and its our job to retire him." She finished, tapping her hands on the console next to her. "Find him, now."


	15. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

Nekieth turned on his heel, and started to walk out of engineering when suddenly he heard a surge of power behind him. He whirled around and saw the massive warp core powering up.

--

-_Warp reactors are online. Standing by to initiate warp command._ The computer announced in the nacelle control room. Harry crossed his fingers and closed his eyes.

"Computer, _engage!_"

--

Nekieth turned white, as he ran toward a control panel.

"Why is that thing back on? _Shut it down!"_ He yelled to anyone listening. Everyone in the room was scrambling around when suddenly, the ship started to move. There was a sudden burst of energy in the room, as _Voyager_ leaped ahead into warp nine. "_Nooooo!" _Nekieth yelled as his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell on the floor. Everyone in engineering collapsed onto the floor, unconscious. A moment later, Seven opened an access hatch and walked into engineering.

"Seven to Kim."

_"Go ahead. Did it work?" _

"Yes. Everyone seems to be unconscious. I will alert the Doctor." Seven heard him sigh with relief.

_"I will meet you in sickbay, Kim out." _

--

"Look at this." The Doctor said as he pointed to something on the computer terminal in sickbay. It was displaying a brain scan of Captain Janeway. Seven and Harry glanced at the readout.

"What exactly are we looking at Doc?" Harry asked.

"While you two were off saving the day, I took the liberty of hiding a tricorder set on active scan behind the control panel of the main turbolift. This is what it picked up of Captain Janeway when she took the ride to engineering." He started. "Now most of these scans are normal except right here." He pointed to a part of the brain on the readout.

"Increased telepathic activity?" Seven recognized it.

"How can that be? Captain Janeway has no telepathic ability." Harry asked.

"She didn't used to, but she did while the alien was in here. Now look at this." The Doctor said, as he changed the display. "This is a brain scan I just took. The telepathic readings are completely gone… vanished. I would say she is human again. From these readings, she is just asleep."

"But she is Captain Janeway now?" Seven queried.

"As far as I can tell. The entire crew should be themselves now. All I can guess is that while we were within such close range of that station it was affecting everyone who was 'converted.'"

"Can you wake the Captain?"

"Sure." The Doctor replied, as he pressed a hypospray against Janeways neck. She jumped up and frantically looked around. She then looked down at her body, and then up at the Doctor.

"I'm me again." She whispered. "Status?"

--

_"Captans Log, supplemental. Harry, Seven and the Doctor were able to counteract the entire enemy force by engaging the ships warp drive. We later found that being within such close range of the alien space station was allowing some sort of telepathic link. When _Voyager_ leaped into warp, we left range of the telepathic link allowing our own minds to surface. Now we are left with the decision of what to do about the space station that started this whole thing. Computer, end log."_ Kathryn Janeway cleared her throat and left her ready room, walking toward the bridge. When she arrived, she smirked a little when she saw Chakotay sitting in the chair next to hers. "Commander." She nodded, still smiling.

He glanced up and nodded.

"Sorry about the whole throwing you in the brig thing," She started. "I wasn't quite myself then." Chakotay smiled, and replied.

"Its okay. You weren't too harsh to me. Although I must say you startled me when you tried to arm-wrestle the forcefield."

"Yeah, I'm not too sure what that was all about. Left a nasty burn." They both chuckled for a moment, and then stopped laughing. "Now what do we do about that space station." Kathryn muttered. Suddenly, Tuvoks computer panel started to beep.

"Captain, there is a ship approaching… quite rapidly." He informed her.

"On screen." She replied. A moment later, a massive vessel filled _Voyagers_ viewscreen. "My God. Get a size reading on that thing." Janeway whispered.

"Sensors indicate it is roughly four times the size of _Voyager._" Tuvok replied.

"They are hailing." Harry chimed in.

"Put them through." Janeway replied. A moment later, a very tall entity flashed up on the viewscreen. Janeways first thought was how they resembled species 8472, but after she looked at it a little more she realized it was quite different. None of them had ever seen anything like them before.

_"I am Briken Dectran of the warship _Voondrek," The man on the screen spoke._ "I am here representing the Vanretna Imperial Government. We need to talk."_


	16. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

_Voyagers_ transporter system powered up, and moments later safely delivered Captain Briken Dectran and his two command officers onto the transporter pad.

"Welcome to the Federation Starship _Voyager._" Janeway greeted them as they stepped off the platform. "This is my first officer Chakotay, and my security chief Tuvok." She finished, as she pointed to her officers.

"This is my first, Vrolan and my second, Kernos." Briken said without breaking eye contact with Janeway. "Let us cut to the chase, Captain. The Vanretna government is not your enemy. We are not even stationed in your galaxy."

"Your ship is able to travel throughout different galaxies?" Tuvok interjected.

"In remarkable time." Briken "Think of it this way, your warp speed is equivalent to our thruster speed."

"Remarkable." Janeway whispered, as she exchanged glances with Chakotay.

"The space station you encountered was a prison station. Its cloak failed, causing it to be accessible to your plane of space."

"What of the people that invaded our minds?" Janeway asked.

"Nekieth and his staff." Briken muttered. "Captain Janeway, our people are a warrior race. Nekieth was the commander of a very important warship, but during the _Sector 4i_ wars, he lost control of himself and became more and more distant with my government. Finally he and his crew committed an unforgivable sin against our government which is punishable with permanent exile. That station you encountered was the place they were to carry out their punishment."

"And we interfered by beaming over." Chakotay said.

"Yes." Briken responded. "The different worlds your crew discovered on that station are all specifically fabricated for the prison sentence."

"I have a question," Chakotay started, "when we were on your station we encountered an old mystery on our home planet. We call it 'Stonehenge,' it is a rock formation. What do you know about it?"

Briken and his officers stepped back up onto the transporter pad. "I am not able to answer your questions now. Your civilization is not ready for the truth just yet." He reached into a pocket in his uniform and pulled out a small metallic disc. "Order will be restored on the prison station." He said, and reached down and handed Janeway the small disc.

"This contains the answers to your questions. When you the timing is right… you will know what to do. I apologize again for the trouble Nekieth has put upon your vessel. When your civilization advances enough, we will meet again." The three aliens looked down to the floor, and vanished in a flash of red light.

_"Bridge to Janeway, the alien vessel and the space station have disappeared from sensors."_

"And so it is over." Janeway whispered.

--

Harry Kim walked into the captains ready room, and noticed the small metallic disc sitting on her table.

"I wanted to thank you, Harry. It was your plan that freed us all." Janeway softly spoke, as she took a sip of coffee.

"Thank you, Captain. There Is something I haven't gotten a chance to tell you. When I froze on that station, I died." Janeway raised her eyebrow. "I suddenly found myself talking to nobody about how my life had ended. A rather quirky individual in fact… told me that I had died prematurely. Told me that he was good, and what we were fighting was evil. Then it said for me to have my life back, and restore things to their proper order."

"Huh." Janeway cleared her throat, and picked up the alien disc. "You see this?" She asked Harry.

"Yes Ma'am." He replied. Janeway flipped the disc over, looking at it.

"I had B'Elanna examine this after the aliens departed. As far as our scans reveal, it is a simple shard of metal, molded into the shape of a disc. Nothing special at all, an ornament if you will." She said, as she reached across the table to hand it to Harry. "Hold it." She finished.

Harry reached over and accepted the small object. He nearly dropped it, for it was entirely too heavy for its mass. On top of that, it was producing a good amount of heat.

"Its hot and heavy!" Harry exclaimed, as he turned it around in his had.

"Exactly." Janeway replied. "Everything instrument we have on this ship says that piece of metal should _not _be heavy and _defiantly_ should not be producing heat… and yet it is." Harry handed her the disc back. "Harry, things are not always what they appear to be. As far as what data this stores, we may never know. But we owe it to our species to deliver this disc back to earth, and preserve it until one day we are able to access the data stored on it." Harry nodded. "Ensign Kim. You did well, you saved the day and we successfully made contact with another species from a different galaxy. Take a break - you deserve it. Dismissed."

"Thank you Captain. Its good to have you back." He replied, and left the room. Moments later in his quarters, Harry stared out the window watching the stars fly by at warp speed. He smiled, for he knew now that things were finally back on track.

The end.


End file.
